History Main / LostInImitation

* In Comicbook/SpiderMan, TheSymbiote originally had minimal influence over Peter's mind at best - the reason he gave it up was because it had a habit of taking his (sleeping) body out at night to websling and because he discovered it was alive and planning on merging with him on a genetic level- which freaked him out. In fact, the original comics symbiote had no emotions of its own, but developed them as a result of spending so long bonded to Spider-Man, even sacrificing itself (well, almost) to save its former host after being rejected. Though Eddie Brock, who hated Spider-Man, was able to use it to go against him as Comicbook/{{Venom}}, the symbiote still tried to jump ship and return to Spider-Man when Spidey made the offer. In [[WesternAnimation/{{Spider-ManTheAnimatedSeries}} the 90's animated series]], the Symbiote was portrayed as having its own, extremely aggressive personality, which was starting to overwrite Peter's as the bond grew stronger, and all adaptions since have taken this up.

* [[TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea Captain Nemo]] will invariably be portrayed as European in adaptations (usually French, apparently confusing the character with the author) but he was an Indian prince in the books. Amusingly, Verne's first version of the character was a Polish nationalist that fought the Russians, but had to change it because of ExecutiveMeddling. In the 1954 Disney film, the one that has inspired most the later iterations, Nemo's nationality is a mystery, but his claim of being an escapee of Rura Penthe (a Russian penal colony mentioned in ''WarAndPeace'') makes him compatible with Verne's original 'Polish rebel' idea. ''TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'' kept the Indian nationality, however, and received much undeserved flack as a result (not that the rest of the film doesn't deserve any, on the contrary).

* The novella ''Literature/TheStrangeCaseOfDrJekyllAndMrHyde'' is a mystery story about a solicitor who turns detective to discover why a client has made a will leaving everything to a mysterious ne'er-do-well. Almost invariably, the subsequent adaptations... aren't. In fact, many leave out the central character, Mr Utterson, altogether.

-->-- '''OrsonWelles'''

** In ''Comicbook/{{X-Men}}'', almost all adaptations to feature Sabretooth have made him TheDragon to Magneto, despite the comic version of him never having worked for or with Mags. The rare exceptions are WesternAnimation/{{Wolverine and the X-Men}}, in which Sabretooth was simply a Weapon X operative, and ''X-Men Origins: Wolverine,'' in which Magneto does not appear and Sabretooth is Wolverine's brother. The '90s show did have him take a job from Magneto in infiltrate the Institute, but he otherwise doesn't work for him. (When he finds out about the scheme, Wolverine points out that Sabretooth usually doesn't do someone else's dirty work.)
** In comics, Mystique is the leader of the new Brotherhood and has rarely worked for anyone else. Most adaptations have her working for Magneto or Apocalypse. In the [[WesternAnimation/{{X-Men}} 1990s series]], she worked for Apocalypse. In ''WesternAnimation/{{X-Men Evolution}},'' she worked for Magneto until he ditched her, then operated on her own, then joined Apocalypse. In the movieverse, she worked for Magneto until he ditched her in X3 (came after Evo ended).

* In Comicbook/{{Spider-Man}}, TheSymbiote originally had minimal influence over Peter's mind at best - the reason he gave it up was because it had a habit of taking his (sleeping) body out at night to websling and because he discovered it was alive and planning on merging with him on a genetic level- which freaked him out. In fact, the original comics symbiote had no emotions of its own, but developed them as a result of spending so long bonded to Spider-Man, even sacrificing itself (well, almost) to save its former host after being rejected. Though Eddie Brock, who hated Spider-Man, was able to use it to go against him as Venom, the symbiote still tried to jump ship and return to Spider-Man when Spidey made the offer. In [[WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries the 90's animated series]], the Symbiote was portrayed as having its own, extremely aggressive personality, which was starting to overwrite Peter's as the bond grew stronger, and all adaptions since have taken this up.
** Also, none of the adaptations since--[[WesternAnimation/{{UltimateSpider-Man}} Ultimate]], [[WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan spectacular cartoon]], or [[Film/{{Spider-ManTrilogy}} film]]--have kept its origin from "[[CrisisCrossover The Secret Wars]]", where it essentially came from an alien vending machine. The latter two had it come from space, as in the '90s animated series, while the former made it a product of his father's research into a cure for cancer.

* Some adaptations of SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker since ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' have drawn from Mark Hamill's performance as the character, particular either the high pitch, slight rasp or both, and definitely the laugh.
* Most people would not know that the original Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles all wore red bandannas and had tails; those two details were altered when the first action figures were made, and have since become standardized. It wasn't until ''WesternAnimation/TurtlesForever'' that the original characters designs were seen outside the comic books.
** Not to mention the fact that Shredder wasn't the major villain in the original Mirage run. He died in the first issue, and only came back once in canon as a worm colony clone. It was only through the Fred Wolf series that he took on the arch-nemesis position, and any other appearances and allusions to Shredder in the Mirage comics (such as the Shredder Shark monster) came out much, much later.
** Also, Baxter Stockman is never known to have ever met Shredder in the Mirage comics, but the 4Kids cartoon, which was usually much more true to the comics, has him working for Shredder just as he did in the Fred Wolf show.
** And the turtles didn't originally say [[TotallyRadical stuff like "Cowabunga!"]] They were much more formal. Just read [[http://www.waltkneeland.com/archives/essays/tmnt.htm Leonardo's opening narration]], and you'll get an idea.
** And then there's Splinter, who wasn't a human-turned rat; he started out as a non-mutated rat.
*** And to top it all off, the original comics were not at all kid-friendly. They were nothing short of bloody and ultraviolent.

* As [[http://www.supermanhomepage.com/other/other.php?topic=phonebooth this page]] analyzes, “If you ask the average person on the street, ‘Where does Clark Kent change into Franchise/{{Superman}}?’, nine out of ten people will answer ‘In a phone booth’”. This particular part of Superman mythology was not originated in the comics, but in "The Mechanical Monsters", a Fleischer WesternAnimation/{{Superman Theatrical Cartoon|s}}. The page presents another 9 mentions until 1978 (another Fleischer cartoon, 1 Superman Sunday Newspaper, 1 Continental Insurance Superman Ad, some references to [[Radio/TheAdventuresOfSuperman the radio series]], and one reference to the Superman Broadway Musical, and four cover in the comics). But then mentions the joke in ''Film/{{Superman}}'' (1978) works because, for some reason, everyone "knows" Clark Kent uses a phone booth to make his quick-change into Superman. How could this be if the joke was made only ten times in Superman Canon?
** Because the joke was made ''far'' more often than that in canon. The author of the article admits (toward the bottom) that he didn't bother to find all the instances of Superman changing in a phone booth in the comics; he's (mostly) only citing appearances in other media. It may have originated in the serials, but the comics were quite happy to pick it up and run with it.

* Most movie adaptations of ''Literature/TheThreeMusketeers'' make Cardinal Richelieu the iconic villain and antagonist of the heroes, despite his ambivalent position in the first book and total absence in all following books. Also, Rochefort gets promoted to a bigger role as TheDragon, and it is hard to find a film version in which he ''doesn't'' get killed by d'Artagnan. In the novels, d'Artagnan and Rochefort became grudging friends despite fighting many duels. He has no eyepatch in the books either; that started with ChristopherLee in the 1970s version.
* Our conception of FrankensteinsMonster ([[IAmNotShazam not to be confused]] with Victor Frankenstein himself) is based largely on Creator/BorisKarloff's depiction of him as a largely [[TheVoiceless silent]] and [[TheGrotesque misunderstood giant]], which, in turn, has largely been [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderized]] into a flat-headed [[SmashMook hulkish killing machine]] with green skin that was based on the advertising art (the film was black and white). Very rarely will we get to see him as the verbose and vengeful monster portrayed in Creator/MaryShelley's original book. To be entirely fair, he was [[NotEvilJustMisunderstood misunderstood]] in the book as well, but his reaction to it was indeed vengeful, rather than ever being Creator/BorisKarloff's gentle giant.
** Subverted in Film/YoungFrankenstein, where the monster has been given an abnormal brain that causes him to be the stereotypical groaning monster. After Frankenstein gives him a brain fluid transfusion, he becomes verbose and civilized. The vengeful part is left out due to Frankenstein's HeelFaceTurn and subsequent displays of kindness towards his creation.
** In addition, every adaptation has Frankenstein using some form of electricity to animate his creation. In the book, the framing device is the Doctor telling his story to a sea captain, and when he gets to ''how'' he created the monster he basically says, "And then I gave it life. [[AndSomeOtherStuff I'm not telling you how, because I don't want anybody to repeat what I did.]]" Obviously, that wouldn't have worked on the big screen.
** The only exceptions are the 1910 version made by Thomas Edison -- that one uses a vat of chemicals -- and the 1973 TV-movie ''Frankenstein: The True Story'', which uses solar energy. Ever since the famous Universal version, however, electricity has been standard.
*** Actually, while he maintains that he won't tell the sailor the exact details necessary to know how to pull off the trick (for the sailor's own good, and the good of humanity), the book makes it very clear that he used some potion inspired by the alchemical notion of the elixir of life as studied by Agrippa and others.
*** In the novel, he does mention that when he saw a lightning strike at fifteen, he longed to harness that power, and he even brings up the work of Galvani, who made dead flesh move by running current through it. This does seem to suggest that electricity may well have somehow been involved in the process of creation.
**** In addition, Shelley did write that her idea for the story came in part from discussions that touched on Galvani's experiments.
** Don't forget the existence of [[TheIgor Igor]], who became a staple of Frankenstein movies and the horror genre in general without having appeared in either the book or the film ''Frankenstein''. PopculturalOsmosis took the hunchback character of Fritz from the first Karloff Frankenstein picture, and combined him with Creator/BelaLugosi's character Ygor from ''Son of Frankenstein'', the third and last Karloff Frankenstein film, a film that seems to have fallen out of the public consciousness despite being pretty good and being a major basis for ''Young Frankenstein''.
** The B-film ''Frankenstein Vs. The Wolf Man'' is the source of the image of the monster as stumbling around with his arms outstretched, as the monster becomes blind in the film.
** [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0368730/ The 2004 movie]] is one of the few screen adaptations of the source material that averts the [[SmallReferencePools stereotypical look of Frankenstein's creation established by the Karloff films]], trying to be more faithful to Shelley's original description.
** ''Film/MaryShelleysFrankenstein'' is also much more faithful to the original source material-- [[{{Dissimile}} except where it isn't.]]
** And say what you will about ''Film/VanHelsing'', but they at least made an effort to make him more like he was in the book.
** A ''lot'' of manga fans were surprised at ''Main/JunjiIto''s take on Frankenstein for how "unique and creative it was". Hilariously, his take on it is ''one of the closest and most faithful to the original source material'' that you can find.
* Another minor aversion occurs in the movie ''Film/{{Hook}},'' featuring RobinWilliams as Peter Pan. ''Hook'' is supposed to be a sequel to ''Disney/PeterPan'' set in the modern day. While it gives a few nods to Disney's adaptation of the stage play, it actually winds up being more faithful to J. M. Barrie's book (even sometimes quoting the book in the script), in that much of the characterization and dialogue that was left out of the Disney version has found its way into the live-action sequel (although some of the signature quotes are paraphrased).
-->'''Tinker Bell:''' Peter, you know that place between asleep and awake... That place you still can remember your dreams... That's where I'll always love you. \\

** Note, however, that Hook's hook is still on his left arm, as in the cartoon, not his right, as in the book. Dustin Hoffman, who is right-handed, insisted.

* Most portrayals of [[SherlockHolmes John Watson]] are based on Nigel Bruce's bumbling Watson from the Basil Rathbone films rather than Doyle's more competent character.
** Notably averted by Jude Law in the [[Film/SherlockHolmes 2009 movie]] , Martin Freeman in ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' and Lucy Liu in ''Series/{{Elementary}}''. Each of those Watsons provides the common sense to complement Holmes' genius.
** And while it was television rather than movies, give [[Series/SherlockHolmes Edward Hardwicke and David Burke]] some love too.
** Sherlock Holmes inspired a long line of similar imitators. It was to the point that Holmes trademark hat, pipe and browncoat became visual shorthand for "detective" and Holmes himself is shown dressed this way in cameos and other popular depictions far more than he actually wore them in the original stories. Also, many adaptations forgot the quirkier aspects of his personality and focused on his famous detective skills.
*** Indeed, he never explicitly wore a deerstalker in the original stories at all. The iconic physical depiction of Holmes comes from Sidney Paget's [[http://www.arthes.com/holmes/ illustrations]] in the stories' first appearances in ''Strand'' magazine.
*** In the books he did smoke a pipe (always the illustrations never depicted the famous calabash pipe which first became associated with Holmes due to a theatrical adaptation) but he smoked cigarettes and cigars almost as often.
*** Moriarty and Mycroft were not major characters in the books; they appear in only one and two stories respectively and were referenced in a few others, but are major figures in many adaptations.
* The musical and film ''MyFairLady'' are actually much closer (particularly in the RevisedEnding) to the 1938 film version of ''Pygmalion'' than to the stage play ''Pygmalion''. For instance, the Zoltan Karpathy character was created for the 1938 film (and based on that film's producer). Indeed, the musical is officially based on both the play and film: as the credit in the program reads, it was "adapted from Bernard Shaw's play and Gabriel Pascal's motion picture ''Theatre/{{Pygmalion}}''." The best-selling original cast album only names the Shaw play on its cover, however.
** Many later spoofs of the PygmalionPlot are based on the lesson scenes in ''MyFairLady'', which gave Eliza's lessons far more significance than in previous versions of ''Pygmalion'' (Shaw considered the lesson scene he wrote dramatically redundant).

* Similar to the ''Godzilla/Jurassic Park'' example, Richard Chamberlain's two ''AllanQuatermain'' films played as more of an ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' knock-off than an adaptation of Creator/HRiderHaggard's novels-odd in that Allan Quatermain serves as partial inspiration for Indiana Jones. They moved Quatermain up to World War I so he could have a Second Reich opponent and showed him using a whip. A 1986 animated version also inserted a German foe.
* Professor Challenger has, similar to Quatermain, returned in various projects which seem to cash in on Jurassic Park:The Lost World and King Kong-which Challenger influenced.

* Vampire movies in general often follow the ClassicalMovieVampire conventions created by ''Film/{{Nosferatu}}'' (1922) and 1931's ''Film/{{Dracula}}''. This goes so far that any departure from the [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire tropes]] of these two films is likely to be seen as "breaking the rules" and may confuse the audience. Never mind that neither film is strictly consistent with traditional vampire folklore, nor that any two cultures' vampire legends are the same. The 1941 ''Film/TheWolfMan1941'' had a similar effect on [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolf conventions]].
* The 2007 film of ''Film/IAmLegend'' is an adaptation of 1971's ''Film/TheOmegaMan'' much more so than of [[Literature/IAmLegend the Richard Matheson novel]] from which it draws its name.
** Right down to ghouls instead of human-looking vampires (capable of speech, wearing clothes, [[spoiler: rebuilding society]], etc).
** All film adaptations since ''Film/TheLastManOnEarth'' have also kept the idea of Robert Neville being well educated and fairly urbane rather than the rough factory worker of the original story who learned all of his science through excursions to the library and was concerned more over a lack of sexual fulfillment than over the idea of the world ending.

* The ArthurianLegend gives us the trope of ExcaliburInTheStone, which is a very good example of how this can happen.
* In Romanian folklore, vampires and werewolves aren't really distinct—the word in Romanian that comes from the Slavic for werewolf, ''vârcolaci'', is a type of vampire (it eats the moon to cause eclipses). However, many other cultures do distinguish them—other than that both are often witches, for instance, French loup-garous and [[OurVampiresAreDifferent revenants]] don't really have much in common.
** Bear in mind also that the tenous connection of vampires to Vlad the Impaler is non-existent in Romania (bar PopCulturalOsmosis) and was included by Stoker almost as an afterthough. This caused a minor scandal in Romania when somebody suggested building a theme park that would conflate ''Dracula'' and Vlad the Impaler, who is [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation considered a national hero]] for doing his best to keep the Turks out of the country.

* In the original Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo novel, the eponymous count ''isn't'' Albert's father and ''doesn't'' get with Mercedes in the end.
** The Count also humiliates Fernand Morcerf with evidence of his war crimes, instead of having a totally awesome sword duel.

* Would you be surprised to know that Victor Hugo's novel ''Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' is not primarily a [[TokenRomance love story]] between the hunchback and the gypsy girl? Quasimodo ''is'' rather sweet on Esmeralda, and indeed dies in her tomb, but this is just one of several plots running through the story. The actual primary character of the book, as [[WordOfGod stated by the author]], is -- wait for it -- Notre Dame Cathedral itself, as the original French title ''Notre-Dame de Paris'' implies. Fans of the Disney version may be distressed to hear that Phoebus was a [[VillainDecay right bastard in the original]]. He actually turned up to watch Esmeralda hanged for his murder and didn't even think to say "Excuse me, Mr. Hangman, but I'm not dead."

* Adaptations of ''ThePrisonerOfZenda'' such as ''Dave'' and ''The Moon Over Parador'' always present the identical characters as strangers who just happen to look alike. However, in the original novel, the two are distant cousins who look alike due to features introduced by adultery of a previous generation of their families, which [[IdenticalGrandson crop up every couple of generations]].
* ''Literature/MobyDick'', just about every adaptation or, more frequently, parody features the great whale as an all-white behemoth, despite the fact that he's described to retain only a white forehead and a white hump in the original novel. It doesn't help that that the book repeatedly refers to Moby Dick as the "white whale" almost exclusively. By the time they actually find it and the reader [[FridgeLogic realizes that only parts of it are white]], the image of a completely white whale is too powerfully engraved. Most book covers depicting the whale also make it completely white.
** Let it be noted that the reader should know that as early as chapter 42 (of 136 chapters), called "The Whiteness of the Whale", in which [[LampshadeHanging even the book itself]] recognizes the falseness of calling it a "white whale", justifying that, the whale being a creature that lives under the water and only lifts its body out of it slightly to breathe, the forehead and the hump are the only parts of it you see most of the time.

** [[Film/SleepyHollow The Tim Burton film]] is clearly based more on the Disney version than the original story. Though Crane has a cowardly personality, he is ultimately the hero of the story. The villagers, on the other hand, are mostly turned into corrupt villains, and the prankster Brom Bones is a bully.
** The scene where Ichabod rides across the covered bridge is a direct reference to the Disney adaptation, complete with the frogs seeming to croak "Ichabod". The shot where he ends up on his horse backwards is also borrowed from that version.

*** The Moorish companion and the feisty Marian, alongside several other elements, can be traced down to the excellent Eighties series, ''RobinOfSherwood''. The Kevin Costner version ripped several of these elements off (to the point where there was talk of a lawsuit) and brought them into the worldwide mainstream.
** {{Lampshaded}} in ''Webcomic/PeterIsTheWolf'': The characters there explain yet ANOTHER old version of the myth, and mention some of the issues, if not others. It's not treated as the original story, either. For one thing, Robin is a werewolf!

* Most versions of the Wizard of Oz are based more on the 1939 film (''Film/TheWizardOfOz'') than on the original novel (''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz''), for instance by having ruby slippers (the slippers were silver in the book, changed to ruby for the movie in an effort to show off the new-fangled color film they were working with) and by having Glinda be the witch who directs Dorothy to the Emerald City (in the book it's the Good Witch of the North, who appears only in that scene and succumbed to [[CompositeCharacter character composition]]).

** Averted in ''The Muppets Wizard of Oz'': Dorothy is correctly given silver slippers, and Glinda is ''not'' the witch who first sends Dorothy off to the Emerald City.

** Oh, and the iconic line, "You wouldn't have believed me"? That originated from the film, in which for whatever reason the writers decided to [[http://www.cracked.com/article_18881_5-reasons-greatest-movie-villain-ever-good-witch.html flanderize Glinda into a total Jerkass]], and for equally unknown reasons, most people [[CompletelyMissingThePoint took it an actual reason why she wasn't informed of the real way to return home]]. Originally, she just didn't know until the end that Dorothy could have just clicked her heels and been done with things.

* The syndicated TV show ''Film/TheBeastmaster'' has more in common with the B movie than the Andre Norton novel, in that it has absolutely nothing in common with the Andre Norton novel, and the only things different from the movie are that Dar doesn't wear a crown or use a sword (for the early part of the series); it takes place in the jungle instead of the desert; and Dar's loincloth doesn't have fringe on it. Oh, and Ruh's a tiger instead of a puma (probably because the black paint killed the one from the movie).

* A minor example occurs for ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}''. Lucy is usually depicted as less bombastic in modern derivations of the comic, including the [[TheMerch merchandise]], with 'crabby mode' Lucy items being rare because they're objectively less marketable. Most people forget Schulz intentionally made Lucy extremely argumentative from the get-go, making the gentler concessions only because she sounded more severe to the ear than on paper.
** Even in the animated adaptations, it's implied that Lucy is a BitchInSheepsClothing.

* The musical ''Theatre/JekyllAndHyde'' is based on Spencer Tracy's and earlier movie versions of Stevenson's novel more than the text itself. Almost all adaptations have a BettyAndVeronica LoveTriangle with Jekyll engaged to Sir Danvers Carew's daughter, and Hyde hooking up with a good-time girl ... all entirely absent from the book.
** ...to say nothing of the fact that Jekyll and Hyde being the same person was the ''twist ending'' of the book, while in practically every adaptation, [[AllThereIsToKnowAboutTheCryingGame the duality is known and played up from the beginning of the story]], and indeed becomes the point of the plot.

** Most depictions include a half-mask, either leaving the Phantom's mouth free (as done in LonChaney's silent film) or the diagonally cut mask because that's what was used in Andrew Lloyd Webber's famous stage version, though his entire face was deformed in the original novel, not just half, and the rest of his body was abnormal. Incidentally, the stage version only used a half-mask because the first actor to play the Phantom found it too difficult to sing while wearing a full mask. (A full mask is depicted on the poster.) His mask was also black, instead of white as in many adaptations.

* Neither ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'''s love for chili dogs nor his nemesis Eggman/Robotnik's famous line, "I HATE THE HEDGEHOG!", come from the games. It was ''AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' that came up with both of them. In fact, when Sonic's co-creator, Yuji Naka, was asked in an interview what Sonic's favorite food is, chili dogs didn't even come to his mind. This didn't stop other Sonic adaptations from using them and the Robotnik line: later American Sonic cartoons featured them (due to them being produced by the same company as AOSTH and their writers being told to use previous cartoons as a basis for the characters), and so did the American Sonic novels and [[ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehog comics]] (due to them being adaptations of the aforementioned cartoons, rather than the games). The chili dogs eventually [[CanonImmigrant made their way to the games]], but that was in 2008, way after the aforementioned adaptations were produced, so they're still an example of the trope.
** Similarly, many of the lines that [[BeamMeUpScotty some think of as Sonic's catchphrases]], such as "Way past cool!", "Let's juice" or "Let's do it to it!", were never used in a Sonic game. They, too, originated in the cartoons and made their way to later American adaptations based on them.

* References to fairy tales generally have more to do with the [[DisneyAnimatedCanon Disney adaptation]] than to the original story. The Seven Dwarves will have names, Cinderella only goes to one ball, the step sisters don't fool anyone after getting their feet crammed in the tiny shoe, or even manage the shoe in any way, and the wicked stepmother will inexplicably ''not'' be put to death (though that probably had also been removed from earlier {{Bowdlerise}}d editions).
** In ''TheTenthKingdom'', Virginia (who knows the child-friendly versions) has to have originals explained to her to understand what's going on.
*** And, including the 1987 live-action movie and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Snow_White one animated series]], this remains one of only three works that included the stepmother's other attempts on Snow White, including the poison comb.

** Good luck finding anyone who knows that [[MissingMom Aladdin's mother is still alive]], [[CompositeCharacter the vizier and the sorcerer aren't the same person]] or [[SadlyMythtaken genies don't always live in lamps and grant exactly three wishes.]] Or that Aladdin was originally Chinese. Granted, it was Chinese InNameOnly.
*** Notably averted in the British pantomime tradition.
** Disney ''themselves'' actually did it once: Their [[Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame adaptation]] of Victor Hugo's ''Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' owed far more to the silent and 1939 film versions than it did to the novel. This, perhaps, is why it's a fair bit easier to forgive its inaccuracies than, say, ''Disney/{{Pocahontas}}''.

----

* Most depictions of ''ThePhantomOfTheOpera'' include his unique half-mask because that's what was used in Andrew Lloyd Webber's famous stage version, though his entire face was deformed in the original novel, not just half.

** Incidentally, the stage version only used a half-mask because the first actor to play the Phantom found it too difficult to sing while wearing a full mask. (A full mask is depicted on the poster.)
** The Lon Chaney silent film uses a half-mask, though it has a short veil coming from it to cover his also-deformed mouth.
** Also, in the original novel the mask was ''black'', while most adaptations use white or another pale color.

* The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical ''TheKingAndI'' resembles the 1946 movie version of ''Anna and the King of Siam''; only Margaret Landon's novel is credited as a source.

** The only exception is the 1910 version made by Thomas Edison. That one uses a vat of chemicals. Ever since the famous Universal version, however, electricity has been standard.

* ''Literature/DonQuixote'' is explicitly stated in the first paragraph of the novel to be ''almost'', but not even, 50 years old; later he's said to have graying hair and a black moustache. Yet any adaptation depicts him as a bumbling old man in or around his 70s, often with completely white hair and beard. This could be interpreted as a real case of WeWillHavePerfectHealthInTheFuture: at TheCavalierYears, (1605) the average life expectancy was 30, and any man who managed to age almost to 50 was practically a decrepit old man. The niece calls DonQuixote out for believing that he can do the job of a KnightErrant being an old man instead of a young one. However, his most famous illustrator, Gustave Doré, illustrated DonQuixote at 1860, where a man at his 50 out of the CompetenceZone was clearly ValuesDissonance, so he needed to depict him older just to convey the same message.
** Also, for the people who didn't read the novel may come as a surprise to see that the so much iconic windmill scene last barely a page.

** Disney ''themselves'' actually did it once: Their [[Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame adaptation]] of Victor Hugo's ''Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' owed far more to the silent and 1935 film versions than it did to the novel. This, perhaps, is why it's a fair bit easier to forgive its inaccuracies than, say, ''Disney/{{Pocahontas}}''.

** Disney ''themselves'' actually did it once: Their [[Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame adaptation]] of Victor Hugo's ''Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' owed far more to the silent film version than it did to the novel. This, perhaps, is why it's a fair bit easier to forgive its inaccuracies than, say, ''Disney/{{Pocahontas}}''.

* The 1998 American version of ''Film/{{Godzilla}}'' as ''Franchise/JurassicPark''. Emmerich and Devlin wanted to make a movie that would have a [[DuelingMovies higher grossing opening weekend]] than ''Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark'' had the previous year.

* The 1998 American version of ''Film/{{Godzilla}}'' as ''Franchise/JurassicPark''. Emmerich and Devlin wanted to make a movie that would have a [[DuelingMovies higher grossing opening weekend]] than ''TheLostWorldJurassicPark'' had the previous year.

* Averted by the 2005 film version of ''Film/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'', which according to director Tim Burton was deliberately entirely drawn from [[Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory the original book]] rather than the 1971 film adaption.

* Some adaptations of ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'', most notably ''Manga/PokemonSpecial'', feature [[Anime/{{Pokemon}} a Pikachu who does not like being in its Poké Ball]]. In the original game, it was not even a MascotMook.

** In ''Comicbook/{{X-Men}}'', almost all adaptations to feature Sabretooth have made him TheDragon to Magneto, despite the comic version of him never having worked for or with Mags. The rare exceptions are WesternAnimation/{{Wolverine and the X-Men}}, in which Sabretooth was simply a Weapon X operative, and ''X-Men Origins: Wolverine,'' in which Magneto does not appear and Sabretooth is Wolverine's brother and the 90s Xmen cartoon where Sabertooth had nothing to do with Magneto.

** And while it was television rather than movies, give Edward Hardwicke and David Burke some love too.

'''Peter:''' To die would be a grand adventure! \\

\\
Note, however, that Hook's hook is still on his left arm, as in the cartoon, not his right, as in the book. Dustin Hoffman, who is right-handed, insisted.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]

->''"''Literature/{{Dracula}}'' would make a marvelous movie. In fact, nobody has ever made it... all the movies are based on the play."''

* Hey, did you know that in the original Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo novel the eponymous count isn't Albert's father and he doesn't get with Mercedes in the end?
** ''Anime/{{Gankutsuou}}'' knows!

* A [[DisproportionateRetribution major]] complaint from Tolkien fans about ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' movies was that Gimli's more comical and somewhat cruder depiction borrowed more from the [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame accumulated exaggerated stereotypes of dwarves in modern fantasy]] than Tolkien's 'original' dwarves.
** Even so, Gimli was [[OlderThanTheyThink the butt of a joke or two in the original]]. Gimli and Legolas keeping score of their kills at the Battle of Helm's Deep comes straight from the books.

* ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'' is claimed to be the origin of all modern vampire stereotypes and the definitive line between the vampires of folklore and the vampires of literature, film, and fiction, but most of his archetypal image - slicked black hair with a [[VillainousWidowsPeak widow's peak]], black high-collared stage cape, tuxedo, off-tempo Eastern European accent - is 100% Bela Lugosi, compounded by endless imitations. In the book, Dracula was a gaunt old man with dead-white hair and skin, a hawky face, and a flowing moustache, who grew young when he drank blood and spoke English ''more flawlessly than the native English speakers'' (to the point where it mildly creeps them out). Also, the origin of sunlight killing vampires outright was introduced by the silent German film ''Film/{{Nosferatu}}''. In ''Dracula'', the only difference it makes is that they can't use their powers during the day.

** Dracula's signature cape has its origins in ''stage'' adaptations of the story, added simply so the Count could twirl it dramatically to cover up his mystical exit by theatrical trapdoor. Needless to say, it stuck.
*** It was an Episcopal clerical funeral cloak. The "cape" portion of the cloak was flipped up in a collar so the actor's head couldn't be seen as he disappeared.
** The stage play was the inspiration for a lot of the modern interpretation of Dracula-- buying the rights to the stage play was cheaper for Universal, and so that's what they did. (In fact, both of Universal's Dracula films-- the Lugosi and Langella films-- both featured actors from stage versions of the play in the title role.) Arthur Holmwood and Quincey Morris? Dropped from the stage play, and so not featured in the movies.
*** Ironically, legal research for Universal later established that the novel was never copyrighted in the U.S..
** Creator/FrancisFordCoppola's [[Film/BramStokersDracula film adaptation]] was possibly the most loyal to the original story, most notably Dracula's frequent appearances during daylight. The thick Eastern European accent introduced by Lugosi remains, though the character's Transylvanian origin makes this a bit justified. The film's major departures from the book and most other adaptations comes from making Dracula's character and backstory much more sympathetic.
*** Ironically, the movie was criticized by some for breaking the "no vampires in sunlight" rule and then [[HandWave Handwaving]] it away... when this is actually the most accurate depiction of what happens in the original novel.
**** The BBC's 1977 TV adaptation is the most accurate, except in dropping Arthur Holmwood and in the depiction of the count, himself.